No Brand More Profit. Ethic and Communication sustainability in visual design

No brand more profit is a play on words, hinting at the wide range of issues that are conceivably inherent to this topic: from no logo to non profit, to explain the pun. And in the middle of this is the service sector, public communication, practical design, the imaginary competitor, the social role (and not only the commercial one) of the brand and communication strategies. A nebula of issues that must be raised to prevent the various manifestos (especially First Things First 1964, 2001) from becoming unrealistic declarations of intent. The polarization of issues seeks to give rise to the notion that an ethical dimension, in its huge variety of aspects, is a daily presence in the professional of design, even existing in harmony with a large part of its culturale tradition. This sustainable role of design comes out from the actual act of creating, and harks back to the individual responsibility of the designer, a responsibility that is not global or tautological but one that firmly exists. This paper is aimed to discuss the ethical role of visual design and designers have in front of social context presenting the historical evolution of visual design culture from the manifestos of XX century to the social role in the contemporary knowledge to create a common and ethical ground for the professional network.